A survey performed by Jupiter Research has concluded that 1000 songs is about the right size for a portable media player.

One thousand songs is just about the right size for a portable media player, according to a survey by Jupiter Research.

The online survey found that 90 percent of consumers have no more than 1,000 songs on their PCs. And 77 percent of the consumers Jupiter questioned said they’d be interested in purchasing a portable media player with a capacity of 1,000 songs. The 4GB hard drive included in Apple Computer’s iPod Mini, and in MP3 players from some Apple rivals, holds roughly that number of songs.

This is a subject of some interest to me since I have an iPod Mini.  I have been asked a number of times why I bought one, since the regular 15GB iPod is only $50 more (the iPod Mini is $249 and the 15GB iPod lists for $299).  A quick check of my music collection shows that I currently have 5511 songs taking up 55.2GB of space.  And this is likely to grow as I buy more CDs (additionally, my collection is larger than most because I rip MP3s at 320Kbps).  So my answer is that no iPod in existence can store my entire collection.  No matter which one I got I’d have to suffle songs on and off the device.  Since I’ll be managing the music on the device anyway, it then becomes a matter more of aesthetics and of whether there is enough space for my needs.  I made the decision that 4GB is enough given the logistics of managing the music on the device.  With a mix of 320Kbps MP3 and 128Kbps AAC files I can get a couple days worth of music onto the 4GB iPod Mini.  And realistically I don’t listen to my entire music collection so it doesn’t make sense for me to carry the whole collection around all the time.